Days 16 & 17: Itanagar and Bhalukpong

It was Arunachal Pradesh state day (Feb 20), so went down to Indira Gandhi Park for the cultural event in the morning. At first we were standing way back in the crowd unable to catch a decent view of proceedings. We then went to the VIP entrance, explained we were intrepid entrepreneurs looking to promote the state, and suddenly we were whisked to the front with the journalists and photographers! All of AP's tribes performed their native dances and then we bought a few local souvenirs from the exhibition stands. It was a very nice event. The afternoon was a bit of a write off since everything was closed, and in the evening we met up with Aruna and Komkar again to discuss business. We are really confident that we can work really well together, but the finer details are yet to be ironed out.

Today was an early start. We stuck with our reliable driver, and met up with Aruna and Komkar again, before starting the next leg of our journey. The drive was very good... plenty of nice scenery, without being too spectacular, mile upon mile of tea estates, and lots of busy market life on the roadside. The contrasting landscape between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh was never more apparent than when approaching Bhalukpong. Having driven for 4 hours along flat road, we could see the silhouettes of Arunachal's imposing mountains across the state border. We're staying at the very impressive Bhalukpong Tourist Cottage, which has fantastic views of the river and mountains.

Tomorrow it's onwards through more villages to Bomdila.
- Rahul